Who Will Cheer My Bonnie Bride is one of the more far fetched episodes of Route 66 I've seen, as it concerns the involvement of series newbie and soon to be regular Linc (well played by Glenn Corbett) who is more or less coerced into helping a couple of guys in a motel robbery in Florida. Since the actors who portray the robbers, Rip Torn and Albert Salmi, were first rate actors at the top of their game this entry shines for this if for no other reason; and it also makes me wonder why Torn and especially Salmi didn't have better careers in films and on television.
As things develop, Vietnam vet Linc decides to play medic and social worker to these two guys despite their obviously violent and criminal proclivities and especially the Salmi character seeming to have his gun aimed at Linc half the time. No matter. Linc's pal, Tod, has a social worker's attitude toward society's insulted and injured, and even this early on this has rubbed off on Linc, who is more determined to help these two, Torn's wounded character especially, rather than turn them over to the police. Torn is a lovesick country boy who's determined to attend the wedding of a woman he himself wanted to marry and whose imminent wedding to another man he's determined to attend despite his being neither invited nor the groom.
It's a story worthy of William Faulkner, and I enjoyed the antics of the two good 'ol boys and their relationship, close even as they're very different types, the one a goofy, lovesick romantic in a straw hat, the other the other rather more volatile, and a loose cannon in the bargain. They're both Southern eccentrics, well worth a character study. As such, the episode works. My only problem is that is that in my opinion really should have been made as a stand alone entry in an anthology series. It's an engaging enough tale by itself, didn't really need do gooders Tod and Linc along for the ride to give it a moral grounding, as it really didn't need one. The story could stand on its own two feet.
As things develop, Vietnam vet Linc decides to play medic and social worker to these two guys despite their obviously violent and criminal proclivities and especially the Salmi character seeming to have his gun aimed at Linc half the time. No matter. Linc's pal, Tod, has a social worker's attitude toward society's insulted and injured, and even this early on this has rubbed off on Linc, who is more determined to help these two, Torn's wounded character especially, rather than turn them over to the police. Torn is a lovesick country boy who's determined to attend the wedding of a woman he himself wanted to marry and whose imminent wedding to another man he's determined to attend despite his being neither invited nor the groom.
It's a story worthy of William Faulkner, and I enjoyed the antics of the two good 'ol boys and their relationship, close even as they're very different types, the one a goofy, lovesick romantic in a straw hat, the other the other rather more volatile, and a loose cannon in the bargain. They're both Southern eccentrics, well worth a character study. As such, the episode works. My only problem is that is that in my opinion really should have been made as a stand alone entry in an anthology series. It's an engaging enough tale by itself, didn't really need do gooders Tod and Linc along for the ride to give it a moral grounding, as it really didn't need one. The story could stand on its own two feet.
